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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DIPLOMACY
-DR.VED MITRA
Science Diplomacy
• Science diplomacy is the use of scientific
interactions among nations to address the
common problems facing humanity and to
build constructive, knowledge based
international partnerships.
• Today, science offers alternative channels of
engagement with countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia
and Pakistan
 informing foreign policy objectives with scientific
advice (science in diplomacy);
 facilitating international science cooperation
(diplomacy for science);
 using science cooperation to improve international
relations between countries (science for diplomacy).
• Scientific values of rationality,transparency
and universality are the same the world over.
They can help to underpin good governance
and build trust between nations.
• Science provides a non-ideological
environment for the participation and free
exchange of ideas between people, regardless
of cultural,national or religious backgrounds
• Scientific organisations, including national
academies, also have an important role to play
in science diplomacy, particularly when formal
political relationships are weak or strained.
• The range of actors involved in these efforts
should expand to include non-governmental
organisations, multilateral agencies and other
informal networks.
• There need to be more effective mechanisms for
dialogue between policymakers, academics and
researchers working in the foreign policy and
scientific communities, to identify projects and
processes that can further the interests of both
communities.
• Foreign policy institutions and think tanks can offer
leadership here, by devoting intellectual resources
to science as an important component of modern
day diplomacy.
• Younger scientists need opportunities and career
incentives to engage with policy debates from
the earliest stage of their careers.
• There is much to learn from related debates over
science communication and public engagement
by scientists, where there has been a culture
change within science over the past ten years.
Science in diplomacy
• Environmental threats are adding to the complexity
of international relations in an already turbulent
world.
• The anticipated bottlenecks and constraints—in
food, water, energy and other critical natural
resources and infrastructure—are bringing new
political and economic challenges, and creating new
and hard-to manage instabilities.
• Over the next thirty years, foreign policy will be
increasingly shaped by the linked challenges of
global sustainability .
• Professor John Beddington FRS, has warned of a
‘perfect storm’ of food shortages, scarce water and
insufficient energy resources, which threaten to
unleash public unrest, cross borderconflicts and
mass migration.
• Science will be critical to addressing these
challenges, and the priority of science in diplomacy
should be to ensure the effective uptake of high
quality scientific advice by policymakers.
• The scientific community must inform policymakers
with up-to-date information on the dynamics of the
Earth’s natural and socio economic systems.
Building capacity to build and receive
scientific advice
• The effective use of scientific advice in diplomacy
requires international policymakers to have a
minimum level of scientific literacy, or at least
access to others who have it.
• It also requires scientists to communicate their
work in an accessible and intelligible way, which is
sensitive to its wider policy context
• Establishing and nurturing links between the
scientific and foreign policy communities informs
scientists and policymakers alike: the former about
the realities of policymaking; and the latter about
the role and limits of science in policy.
• Improving the scientific capacity of delegations
from developing countries is particularly important,
especially for international negotiations on health
and climate policy.
Diplomacy for Science
• The second dimension of science diplomacy—
diplomacy for science— seeks to facilitate
international cooperation,whether in pursuit of
top-down strategic priorities for research or
bottom-up collaboration between individual
scientists and researchers.
• Science can be a bridge to communities where
political ties are weaker, but to develop
relationships in these areas,scientists may require
diplomatic assistance,whether in contract
negotiations, or dealing with visa regulations.
• Many countries conduct bilateral summits
specifically on science issues, in order to establish
government-level agreements on joint funding and
facilitation of research.
• Global policy challenges must be addressed in a
holistic way, drawing not only on science and
technology, but also on economic, social, political
and behavioural sciences.
• Competition hasn’t gone away: the growing
scientific capabilities of China,India, Brazil and
others will challenge Europe and the US in some
areas.
Science for diplomacy
• A third dimension of science diplomacy is science
for diplomacy.
• Science for diplomacy primarily draws on the ‘soft
power’ of science: its attractiveness and influence
both as a national asset, and as a universal activity
that transcends national interests.
Types of Science for diplomacy
• Science cooperation agreements,which have
long been used to symbolise improving political
relations, for example between the US, USSR
and China in the 1970s and 1980s.
• New institutions can be created to reflect the
goals of science for diplomacy. Perhaps the best
example is the European Organisation for
NuclearResearch (CERN), which was founded
after World War II to help rebuild bridges
between nations
• Educational scholarships are a well established
mechanism for network building and
encouraging partnerships.
• ‘Track two’ diplomacy can be used to involve
those working outside an official negotiation or
mediation process, including scientists and
other academics. To be effective, it requires
outside participants who remain credible and
influential.
• Science festivals and exhibitions,particularly
linked to the history of science, can be an
effective platform to emphasise the universality
of science, and common cultural interests.
China, India, Iran and other Islamic countries are
particularly proud of their contributions to the
history of science.
New dimensions of International
Security
• Cooperation on the scientific aspects of sensitive
issues may sometimes be the only way to initiate a
wider political dialogue. The soft power of science,
and the universality of scientific methods, can be
used to diffuse tensions even in ‘hardpower’
scenarios, such as those relating to traditional
military threats.
• Security threats now extend beyond the military
domain, with environmental security attracting
particular attention.
• Essential resources, such as freshwater, cultivable land,
crop yields and fish stocks, are likely to become scarcer
in many parts of the world, increasing the risk of
competition over resources within and between states
• Substantial parts of the world also risk being left
uninhabitable by rising sea levels, reduced
freshwater availability or declining agricultural
capacity.
• Many of the regions that are vulnerable to the
impacts of these multiple stresses are already the
locus of existing instability and conflict.
CONCLUSIONS
The concept of science diplomacy is gaining
increasing currency in the US, UK Japan and
elsewhere. It is still a fluidconcept, but can usefully
be applied to the role of science, technology and
innovation in three related areas:
• informing foreign policy objectives with scientific
advice (science in diplomacy);
• facilitating international science cooperation
(diplomacy for science);
• using science cooperation to improve international
relations between countries (science for diplomacy).
Science and universal values
• Scientific values of rationality, transparency and
universality are the same the world over. They can
help to underpin good governance and build trust
between nations. Science provides a nonideological environment for the participation and
free exchange of ideas between people,regardless
of cultural, national or religious backgrounds.
Soft power of science
• The scientific community often works beyond
national boundaries on problems of common
interest, so is well placed to support emerging
forms of diplomacy that require non-traditional
alliances of nations, sectors and nongovernmental organisations. If aligned with
wider foreign policy goals, these channels of
scientific exchange can contribute to coalition
building and conflict resolution.
Motivations for Science diplomacy
• Science diplomacy seeks to strengthen the
symbiosis between the interests and motivations
of the scientific and foreign policy communities.
• Foreign ministries should place greater emphasis
on science within their strategies, and draw more
extensively on scientific advice in the formation
and delivery of policy objectives.
Mechanisms to develop with
stronger linkages
• ensuring messages about the value of science are
promulgated throughout foreign ministries and
embassies,including to all Heads of Mission.
• incorporating science policy training into
induction courses and training for foreign
ministry staff, and specialist diplomatic training
for dedicated science officers
• involving more scientists in foreign ministries to
advise at senior and strategic levels.
• encouraging the recruitment of science graduates
as part of the general intake to the foreign service.
• encouraging independent scientific bodies to
provide science policy briefings for foreign ministry
and embassy staff.
U.S Priorities for Science
Dipomacy
• New scientific partnerships with the Middle East
and wider Islamic world:
• A new initiative to support these efforts, ‘The
Atlas of Islamic-World Science and Innovation’,
was announced at the meeting, with partners
including the Royal Society, Organisation of
Islamic Conference, the British Council and the
International Development Research Centre
• Confidence building and nuclearm disarmament:
With the Review Conference of the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (NPT)in 2010, it is timely to
consider how cooperation on the scientific aspects
of nuclear disarmament could support the wider
diplomatic process.
• Governance of international spaces :
International spaces beyond national
jurisdictions—including Antarctica,the high
seas, the deep sea and outer space—cannot
be managed through conventional models of
governance and diplomacy, and will require
flexible approaches to international
cooperation, informed by scientific evidence
and underpinned by practical scientific
partnerships
CASE STUDY:USING SCIENCE TO
STRENGTHEN RELATIONS WITH THE
ISLAMIC WORLD
• ‘On science and technology, we will launch a new fund
to support technologicaldevelopment in Muslimmajority countries, and to help transfer ideas to the
marketplace so they can create jobs. We will open
centres of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle
East and south-east Asia, and appoint new science
envoys to collaborate on programmes that develop
new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitise
records, clean water and grow newcrops.’
President Barack Obama
• President Obama’s speech at Cairo’s Al-Azhar
University in June 2009 marked a fresh start in US
relations with the Islamic world. It also highlighted
science as a key tool with which to strengthen
relationships.
• However, the desire of countries such as the UK and
US to improve political relations is only half of the
science diplomacy equation. It also requires
partners in Islamic countries that are not only
supportive of such collaborations, but are also
scientifically qualified to engage meaningfully in
joint research.
• Fortunately, there are now promising signs of
renewed science ambition and investment. With
gas-rich Qatar aiming to spend 2.8% of its GDP on
research; the United Arab Emirates set to create
the world’s first sustainable city; and Nigeria
pouring US$5 billion into research and education;
the scientific potential of countries in the Middle
East and wider Islamic-World merits closer
analysis.
• With an endowment of between US$10 and $20
billion, this graduate university aims to attract
students and leading researchers from across the
world, and eventually rival the California Institute
of Technology for prestige.
• In a country where women’s rights are restricted,
the campus is uniquely co-educational. It has also
been successful in wooing leading international
universities in Europe and the US as partners.
• Such initiatives create a timely opportunity for
Europe and the US to reach out to Islamic
countries, using the soft power of science to
facilitate cooperation, particularly around common
interests,such as low carbon innovation.
• One promising initiative is the Synchrotron-light for
Experimental Science and Applications in the
Middle East (SESAME), which is under construction
in Jordan.
• Synchrotrons are large and expensive facilities and
are usually only found in wealthy countries. Few
exist in developing countries and there are none in
the Middle East.
• By pooling regional resources,SESAME has the
potential to build scientific capacity within the
region.Although it will not be fully operational
until 2012, SESAME is already bringing together
scientists from its partner countries for training
and discussion meetings.
References
• Abbott C, Rogers P & Sloboda S (2007) Beyond
Terror: The Truth About the RealThreats to Our
World. Random House:London.
• American Association for the Advancement of
Science (2009) Centre for Science Diplomacy:
inaugural year in review. AAAS: Washington, DC.
Available online at: www.diplomacy.aaas.org/fi
les/CFD_YIR_Web.pdf
• Beddington J (2009) ‘Food, Energy, Water and the
Climate: A Perfect Storm of Global Events?’ Speech
at Sustainable.Development UK 09, 19 March
2009.Available online at
http://www.dius.gov.uk/news_and_speeches/spee
ches/john_beddington/perfect-storm.aspx.
• Berkman P and Young O (2009) Governance and
Environmental Change in the Arctic Ocean. Science,
324:339–340.Available online at:
www.bren.ucsb.edu/news/documents/Berkman_Y
oung_Science.pdf.
• Brown G (2009) Romanes Lecture in Oxford.
Oxford, 27 February 2009.Available online at:
www.number10.gov.uk/Page18472.
• Clinton H (2009) Remarks at the Joint Session of
the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and
the Arctic council. Washington, DC, 6 April
2009.Available online at:
www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/04/121314.
htm.
THANK YOU